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Summary

Go Fish is a 2 to 6 player "book collecting" game. There are no teams.

Suit does not matter in this game.

Objective

The objective is to collect the most number of "books".

A "book" is a set of 4 cards with the same rank, such as 4 Jacks or 4 Sixes.

Deal

Each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards (7 cards in a 2 player game) from a standard deck of 52 cards.

The remaining cards are dealt into a pile at the center of the table. This known as the "pond".

A random player is chosen to go first.

Play

On a players turn, they first select any card from their hand. For example, a Jack. They then select another player to ask if they have any cards of the same rank. For example, "Rob, do you have any Jacks?".

If the asked player has any cards with that rank (Jacks in this case), they must give them all to the asking player. The asking player then gets to ask again.

If the asked player does not have any cards of that rank, they say "Go Fish!". Now the asking player draws a random card from the pond in the middle, if any remain. If they draw a card with the rank they asked for, they get to ask again. Otherwise play proceeds to the next player, in clockwise order.

When a player collects 4 cards of the same rank, this is called a "book". These cards are removed from their hand and they score 1 point.

Game End

The game ends when any player's hand is empty.

The player with the highest score (most number of books) wins!

Strategy

Playing:

It is important to remember what cards people have by watching who asks who for which cards.

Players with more cards in their hand are more likely to have a card you are looking for.

Make sure not to ask the same person for the same card too often. Ask different people for cards.

Ask for cards you only have one of. This increases the chance you will gain a card and thus get a free turn. This also decreases the risk of losing too many cards if someone asks you for the card.

While asking for a different card each turn may seem like a wise strategy, you are telling everyone what you have in your entire hand and that may lead to you losing a lot of your cards.

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Summary

Objective

The objective is to avoid taking cards worth points and to finish the game with the lowest score.

Heart cards are worth 1 point.The Queen of Spades is worth 13 points!

Deal

Each player is dealt a hand of 13 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards.

Pass

Each player chooses 3 cards to pass to another player. Cards are passed to the left on the first hand, to the right on the second hand, across on the third hand, and no cards are passed on the fourth hand. This cycle then repeats itself until the end of the game.

Play

The player with the 2 of Clubs starts things off by playing it. The other players then each play a card in clockwise order until all 4 players have played a card. Whoever played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card, takes the cards. This is known as "winning a trick".

The trick winner starts the next trick. They can lead any card, except Hearts.

Players must play a card with the same suit as the lead card. If they do not have a card with that suit, they may play any card (except on the first trick, in which you may not play Hearts or the Queen of Spades). The first time a Heart card or the Queen of Spades is played is known as "breaking hearts". From this point on players can lead Hearts.

Shooting the Moon/Sun

Normally you try and avoid taking point cards, because points are bad. However, if you do the opposite and manage to take every single point card (every Heart card and the Queen of Spades) then you will have "Shot the Moon". When you "Shoot the Moon" all other players are punished with 26 points.

Even more difficult is "Shooting the Sun". This happens if you manage to take all 13 tricks, thus every single card. This will punish other players with 52 points! This is VERY rare occurrence and is a sight to behold!

If punishing your opponents with points would cause one of them to take first place and win, then your score will be reduced by either 26 or 52 points instead.

TRAM

If it is guaranteed that your hand will win all remaining tricks, you will be presented with a TRAM button. This stands for "The Rest Are Mine". Clicking it will give you all the remaining tricks.

This is just a way to make the game move along a bit quicker. This option is only available if it is impossible for anyone else to take any tricks due to the cards you have in your hand (such as A, K, Q, J of the same suit).

Game End

The game ends when any player reaches 100 points.

The player with the lowest score wins!

Game Specific Options

Allow First Turn Hearts

Normally hearts cannot be played on the first turn. Turning on this option allows hearts to be played on the first turn.

Strategy

Passing:

You normally want to pass your high cards, Aces, Kings and Queens.

If you have the Queen of Spades, you may want to keep it if you have 3 or more spades in your hand, otherwise you may want to pass it.

Passing the Queen of Spades to your right is pretty safe, but be careful passing the Queen of Spades to your left.

If you have less than 3 cards in a given suit, it may be wise to pass all of them. That way, if you don't get passed any in that suit, you will have more opportunities to ditch unwanted cards during game play.

Playing:

No points can be played on the first trick, so you can safely play the highest card you have.

Playing high cards early in the hand is safer since your opponents will often still have cards in that suit.

Try and remember which high cards have been played, especially the Queen of Spades.

If you are the last to play a card and your lowest in suit card will win the trick and the trick contains points, you might as well play your highest in suit card, since you are taking that trick no matter what.

History

This version of Hearts first appeared somewhere between 1850 and 1880. It's origins can be traced back even further to a family of games called Reversis, which was popular in Spain around 1750.

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Summary

Spades is a 4 player "trick taking" game. There are two teams of two, with partners sitting across from each other.

Cards are ranked from Ace (high) down to 2 (low).

Objective

The objective is to be the first team to reach 500 points.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 13 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards.

The player to the dealer's left goes first.

Bid

Starting with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places a bid. They are bidding how many "tricks" they think they can take. Players may bid from 0 (nil) to 13 tricks.

Each team adds together the bids of each partner. This is the number of tricks the team must take as a whole to avoid receiving negative points.

A bid of 0 tricks is known as a "nil" bid. This player is saying that they will not take any tricks this hand. If they succeed in not taking any tricks, their team scores a bonus. If they take 1 or more tricks, they fail and their team will receive a penalty.

Play

The start player starts the trick by playing any card from their hand, except Spades. The other players then each play a card in clockwise order until all 4 players have played a card. Whichever player played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card, takes the cards. This is known as "winning a trick".

The trick winner starts the next trick.

Players must play a card with the same suit as the lead card. If they do not have a card with that suit, they may play any card (except on the first trick, in which you may not play Spades). The first time a Spade card is played is known as "breaking spades". From this point on players can lead Spades.

Normally the highest card with the same suit as the lead card wins the trick. However, if a Spade is played on the trick, then the highest Spade card will win the trick instead. This is known as "trumping" and the Spades are considered a "trump" suit.

TRAM

If it is guaranteed that your hand will win all remaining tricks, you will be presented with a TRAM button. This stands for "The Rest Are Mine". Clicking it will give you all the remaining tricks.

This is just a way to make the game move along a bit quicker. This option is only available if it is impossible for anyone else to take any tricks due to the cards you have in your hand (such as A, K, Q, J of spades).

Score

After each hand, scores are calculated for each team.

If a team took at least as many tricks as they bid, they will gain 10 points per trick bid. Every trick taken beyond their bid is worth 1 point.

If a team did not take enough tricks to meet their bid, they will lose 10 points per trick bid. This is known as being "set". For example, if a team's combined bid is '5' and at the end of a hand they only took 4 tricks between the two of them, then they will lose 50 points.

Additionaly, for every trick taken beyond what the team bid, that team will earn a "bag". Over the course of the game these bags accumulate. Every time a team accumulates 10 bags, that team will lose 100 points.

If a player bid "nil" and successfully does not take any tricks, then their team will gain 100 points.

If a player who bid "nil" fails and takes any tricks, then their team will lose 100 points.

Note that if a "nil" bidder fails and takes tricks, those tricks do NOT count towards the team goal. A "nil" bidder is on their own and so is their teammate in regards to making the bid.

Game End

The game ends when any team reaches 500 points or falls to -200 points. The team with the highest score wins!

Strategy

Bidding:

Keep an eye on what has already been bid by the time it gets to you. There are only 13 tricks available to take. If the total of all bids exceeds this, then one team is guaranteed not to make their bid. Make sure it's not your team!

If you don't have a lot of bags, it may be good to bid 1 less than you think you can take. This allows you to cover for your opponent if needed and you can always throw away cards.

If your opponents have a lot of bags, you may wish to underbid and then force them to take tricks they do not want.

If you are close to winning, you may want to be more conservative in your final bid to ensure you will meet your bid and still win. Just be careful of bags.

Do not bid nil if your partner has already bid nil

If your partner already bid, and they bid nil, you may want to bid a little higher than you normally would as you may be taking more tricks than usual as part of your duty to cover your partner.

Playing:

In general if you are the last person to play and your partner is alerady winning the trick, it's best not to steal the trick from them by playing a higher card or a trump.

If your partner bid nil, make sure you play lots of high cards to cover them! If you play an Ace of Hearts for example, and they only play a 2 of Hearts, then they likely don't have any more Hearts. Thus it is good to continue leading Heart cards so your partner can get rid of high cards they have from other suits.

If the bids are more than 13, then one team is guaranteed not to make their bid. In this situation it is usually useful to lead spades as soon as possible.

More often than not, it's not the spades that cause a team to be "set" but rather the cards that are played after the spades.

When the highest card in a suit is played, that is usually a good time to get rid of your middle cards (8, 9, 10).

History

Spades was invented in the the USA in the 1930s and became quite popular in the 1940s. Spades is a member of the Whist family of card games.

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Summary

Euchre is a 4 player "trick taking" game. There are two teams of two, with partners sitting across from each other.

Cards are ranked from Ace (high) down to 9 (low) except for cards in the trump suit which are ranked:

Jack of Trump Suit

Jack of the suit with same color as trump suit

Ace of Trump Suit

King of Trump Suit

Queen of Trump Suit

10 of Trump Suit

9 of Trump Suit

Objective

The objective is to be the first team to reach 10 points.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 5 cards from a deck of cards containing only A K Q J 10 9 of each suit.

The player to the dealer's left goes first.

Consider Up Card

A card is dealt from the deck face up for all to see.

Starting with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player has the option to "Accept" the up card as the trump suit or "Pass".

If the Up Card is accepted by any player, that card is given to the dealer who must then discard a different card and then normal play begins.

If all 4 players choose to "Pass", then we move to the Consider Suit phase.

Consider Suit

Starting with the start player and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player has the option to choose any suit to become the trump suit or they can "Pass".

If 3 players pass, the dealer is then forced to choose a suit to become the trump suit. This is known as "Sticking the Dealer".

Play

The start player starts the trick by playing any card from their hand. The other players then each play a card in clockwise order until all 4 players have played a card. Whichever player played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card, takes the cards. This is known as "winning a trick".

The trick winner starts the next trick.

Players must play a card with the same suit as the lead card. If they do not have a card with that suit, they may play any card.

Normally the highest card with the same suit as the lead card wins the trick. However, if a card in the trump suit is played on the trick, then the highest trump suit card will win the trick instead.

Score

After each hand, scores are calculated for each team.

The player that chose the trump suit is part of the "Maker" team.

The other team is the "Defending" team.

If the "Maker" team takes 3 or 4 tricks, they will receive 1 point.

If the "Maker" team manages to take all 5 tricks, they will receive 2 points.

If the "Defending" team manages to take 3 or more tricks, then they will receive 2 points.

Going Alone

When considering the up card and suit, the players can also choose to "Go Alone".

When choosing this option, your teammate will discard their cards and will not play this hand.

Instead you are all on your own when it comes to taking tricks.

If you manage to take 3 or 4 tricks when "Going Alone" your team will receive the standard 1 point.

If you take all 5 tricks, your team will receive 4 points!

If the "Defending" team manages to stop you by taking at least 3 tricks, they will receive the standard 2 points.

Game End

The first team to reach 10 points wins!

Strategy

Selecting Suit:

If you or your teammate are the dealer, remember that the dealer receives the face up card if it is chosen as trump.

In general you should not "Accept" unless you have at least 2 of the suit being considered.

Going Alone is risky, only do this if you are certain you can take at least 3 tricks.

Playing:

If you chose the trump suit, it is generally good to lead with your highest trump. This will force your opponents to play their trump cards.

You can usually count on your partner for at least 1 trick.

If your opponent is Going Alone, best to lead a card with a suit that you have several of. This gives your partner the chance to trump over your opponent.

Make sure you keep track of which cards are played, especially the two Jacks.

History

Euchre was first known to exist around 1850. Euchre was the game responsible for introducing the Joker. The version of Euchrehere on World of Card Games is the USA version of the game, which does not use the joker.

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Summary

Twenty-nine is a 4 player "trick taking" game. There are two teams of two, with partners sitting across from each other.

The Jack card has the highest rank. Next highest is the 9 card, followed by Ace, 10, King, Queen, 8, and 7 (lowest). Once the trump suit has been declared, cards in the trump suit outrank all other cards.

Objective

The objective is to be the first team to reach 6 points.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 4 cards from a deck of cards containing only A K Q J 10 9 8 7 of each suit. Everyone gets 4 more cards after the bidding phase.

Bid

Starting with the player to the dealer's left, and proceeding clockwise around the table, each player places a bid. The bid is a guess at how many points they think that their team can take. Players may choose to pass instead of bidding. If not passing, they must bid at least 15, up to a maximum of 28.

If one player makes a bid, the next player must bid higher than that, or pass.

Bidding continues either until a player bids 28, or until 3 consecutive players pass. In the latter case, the dealer is forced to bid 15.

Choosing Trump

The player who bid highest now chooses the "trump suit." Cards with the trump suit outrank cards of all other suits.

When the trump suit is chosen, it remains hidden from everyone. It is known only to the player who chose it. It is only revealed later in the game.

Second Deal

After the trump suit is chosen, 4 more cards are dealt to each player, for a total of 8 cards in hand.

Play

The player to the dealer's left starts the trick by playing any card from their hand. Play continues in clockwise order until 4 cards are in the middle pile. Each card played must be of the same suit as the lead card.

The trick is taken by whomever played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card. This is known as "winning a trick".

The trick-taker is awarded points according to these rules: the Jack is worth 3 points, 9 is worth 2 points, Ace and 10 are worth 1 point each. Other cards are not counted. For example, if there is 1 Jack in the pile, and 2 Aces, and a 7, then the trick-taker is awarded 5 points.

The trick winner starts the next trick.

As soon as a player cannot play a card with the same suit as the lead card, then the trump suit must be declared immediately. After that, the player who could not follow the lead card can play any other card in their hand. Even after trump is declared, players must always play a card from the lead suit, unless they cannot because they do not have one.

Each trick is normally won by the person who played the highest card of the lead suit. However, if one or more cards in the trump suit are played in the trick, then the highest trump suit wins the trick instead.

Score

After each hand, scores are calculated for each team by adding up the teammate's points. The team which took the last trick gets an extra point, so that the total of both team's points always sums to 29 - hence the name of the game.

The player that chose the trump suit is part of the "Declaring" team.

The other team is the "Defending" team.

If the "Declaring" team makes at least the number of points that they bid, they will receive 1 game point. Otherwise, they will lose 1 game point

The "Defending" team does not score any points.

Royal Pair

The King and Queen of the trump suit are called the "Royal Pair."

After trump has been declared, the player who holds the Royal Pair in their hand can announce it immediately after they or their partner wins a trick. (Note that it is possible - and even likely - that no one holds the Royal Pair, in which case this rule is never active.)

Announcing the Royal Pair affects the requirements for the bid. If a member of the "Declaring" team does it, their bid is reduced by 4 points, to a minimum of 15. If the "Defending" team announces the Pair, 4 points are added to the bid, to a maximum of 28.

Seventh Card

In games where the "Seventh Card" option was allowed, the high bidder may choose the trump suit to be determined by the suit of the seventh card that is dealt to them.

This 7th card is kept out of their hand, and may not be played, until they cannot follow suit during a trick. It cannot be used to lead a trick, unless it is the last card played.

If you chose the "Seventh Card" option, be aware that trump suit cards in your hand do not have the power to trump until the trump suit is declared. Do not play a trump suit card and expect it to take a trick unless trump has been declared! When you play your Seventh Card, the trump will be declared automatically. The trump suit is also declared if another player cannot follow suit, as usual.

When trump is declared, the 7th card is moved into the declarer's hand. Then, it may be played according to the usual rules.

Game End

The first team to reach 6 points wins! If a team hits -6 points, they lose.

Strategy

Selecting Trump Suit:

You must bid with only partial knowledge of your full hand.

In general, it is risky to bid unless you have at least two Jacks, or a Jack and 9 of the same suit.

If you are forced to choose a trump suit, pick a suit in which you have the most cards.

Playing:

If possible, lead with a Jack.

If you chose the trump suit, it is generally good to lead with your highest trump. This will force your opponents to play their trump cards.

If your partner played a high card that is likely to win, you may want to slough your point cards so that they take as many points as possible, assuming that they win the trick.

Try to keep track of which cards are played, especially the high cards (Jack, 9, Ace). Remember that there are only 8 cards of each suit at the table. If a single trick contains 4 cards of a suit, then there are only 4 cards left at the table. The next time that suit leads, it is more likely that someone will be able to trump.

History

Twenty-nine (29) is among the "Jass" family of card games, in which the Jack and 9 rank the highest. It should not be confused with Twenty-eight (28), a similar card game with slightly different rules. It is especially popular in South Asia.

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Summary

Gin Rummy is a two-player "draw and discard" game. The players make choices with the goal of accumulating their cards into "melds."

A meld is a group of 3 or more cards which belong together. There are two types of melds, "sets" and "runs." Cards in sets have the same rank. Cards in runs have the same suit, with cards ranked in consecutive order.

For example, a "run" of the Ace of Hearts, 2 of Hearts, and 3 of Hearts is a valid meld (3 cards of the same suit in consecutive order). A "set" of the Queen of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds, and Queen of Spades is another possible meld. Note that the Ace is always a low card, so that it cannot be placed next to the King to form a meld.

Cards in your hand that do not belong to any melds are called "deadwood" cards. By forming melds, players minimize the number of points that they have due to deadwood cards.

Cards are ranked from Ace (1 point) to Ten (10 points), with face cards (Jack, King, Queen) also counting as 10 points. Once a player has 10 deadwood points or less, they may "knock," which ends the hand.

Objective

The objective is to be the first player to reach 100 points and win with the high score.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 10 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. The deck is then placed face down on the table. The player opposite the dealer goes first.

Consider Up Card

One card is dealt from the deck face up for all to see.

The dealer's opponent may "Accept" the up card, and take it into their hand, or "Pass." When picking the up card, you must finish your turn by discarding some other card - not the up card, which you just picked. After discarding, the other player's turn begins.

If the non-dealer passed, the dealer now considers the up card, either choosing to "Accept" it or "Pass." If accepting, they must discard another card. Then it is their opponent's turn.

If both players pass, then the non-dealer must draw an unknown card from the deck. Then, they must follow by discarding any card from their hand. It is permitted to discard the card that they just picked, because it was not the face-up card.

Play

After the initial phase, play continues with each player choosing to pick either the up card, or an unknown card from the deck. Notice that there is a slight difference from the initial phase, where the up card is considered by both players before it is allowed to take a card from the deck.

Players must always discard a card after picking. After the discard, it is their opponent's turn to play.

Knocking

If a player has 10 deadwood cards or less upon discarding, they are given the opportunity to "Knock." The knocker displays their melds and their deadwood cards. Their opponent also displays any melds in their hands at that time. If they have any deadwood cards that can be added to the knocker's melds, they may do so, which can reduce their deadwood points. This process is called "laying off" the deadwood.

For example, if the knocker has a meld of three Tens, and their opponent has the remaining Ten, the opponent may "lay off" their Ten against the knocker's meld. This reduces the opponent's deadwood points by 10.

Score

At the end of the hand, deadwood card points are counted for the knocker and their opponent. If the knocker's points are lower, they are awarded the difference in points.

If the knocker has the same or higher deadwood points than their opponent, they have been "undercut." The difference in points is awarded to their opponent, as well as an additional 10 point bonus!

A knocker who has no deadwood is said to have "gone gin," which is especially fortunate. In this case, their opponent is not allowed to lay off deadwood against their melds. The knocker is awarded their opponent's deadwood points, and they also get a 20 point bonus!

Game End

When a player reaches 100 points, the game stops. The final score is computed by adding together the following points for each player:

Points acquired during the game, +

A "winner's bonus" of 100 points to the player who reached 100 points first. 200 points is awarded if their opponent did not win any hands at all, +

A "line bonus" of 20 points per hand won is awarded each player.

Strategy

Up Card:

Keep in mind that your opponent can see what you picked if you choose the face-up card. For example, if the up card is the 4 of Spades, and you take it, they may think you are looking for cards with rank 4. They may try to block your strategy, by holding onto cards of rank 4 rather than discarding them. Therefore, it is usually best to only pick the up card if doing so completes a meld in your hand.

Playing:

As more cards are discarded, the chances get stronger that your opponent will eliminate enough deadwood to knock. It is wise to be alert to how much deadwood you have in your hands as the game progresses.

Pay attention to cards that your opponent is discarding. You may be able to guess which types of cards they do not need, and you can try to avoid helping their strategy by discarding such cards yourself.

History

Gin Rummy was reportedly invented in 1909 by a Whist teacher named Elwood T. Baker, and his son, Charles Graham Baker.

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Summary

3-5-8 is a 3 player "trick taking" card game, in the Whist group. It is also known as "Sergeant Major" or "8-5-3".

Cards are ranked from Ace (high) down to 2 (low).

If you enjoy the strategy of "shooting the moon" in the card game Hearts, you may find 3-5-8 similarly entertaining. In 3-5-8, you will be trying to take as many tricks as you can.

Tips: try working through the Tutorial before playing a game! And try playing a few games with robots, before playing with humans. This will help you become familiar with the mechanics of the game.

Objective

The objective is to be the first player to take 12 tricks in a round.

Deal

A random player is chosen to be the dealer.

Each player is dealt a hand of 16 cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. The remaining 4 cards form a "kitty" and are placed to one side.

Players are assigned a target number of tricks that they must take. The dealer's target is 8, the player to the left of the dealer has a target of 5, and the player right of the dealer has a target of 3.

Choose Trump

The dealer picks a "trump" suit: clubs, spades, hearts, or diamonds. Cards with the trump suit outrank cards of all other suits.

Next, the dealer chooses 4 cards to discard, and then takes the cards from the kitty.

Play

The player who is left of the dealer leads the trick by playing a card first. Turns are taken in clockwise order, each player "following suit" by playing a card of the same suit as the first card, if possible.

Once everyone has played a card, the pile of 3 cards are taken by the person who played the highest card with the same suit as the lead card. This is known as "winning a trick".

If a player does not have a card with the same suit of the lead card, they may play any card. Cards with the trump suit are special - they override the rank of other cards. If a card in the trump suit is played on the trick, then the highest trump suit card will win the trick.

The trick winner starts the next trick.

Exchange

When all cards have been played, the deal moves clockwise, and a new set of cards are dealt to each player.

If a player did not take their target number of tricks in the previous round, then they are said to have "undertricked." Players who have met more than their target number of tricks are called "overtrickers," and are given an advantage.

If there is only one overtricker, this player chooses cards from their hand to exchange with the undertricker (or undertrickers, if the two other players took fewer tricks than their target). The number of cards to give to each undertricker is computed by the undertricker's target minus the number of tricks that they took. For example, if the undertricker's target was 8, but they only took 5, then the overtricker gets to trade 3 cards with them.

If there are two overtrickers, then each of the overtrickers exchanges cards with the undertricker. The player who has the largest target for the current hand is given an advantage; they are the first to trade cards. In this case, the number of cards exchanged is the difference between the number of tricks taken by that overtricker, and their target for the previous hand. For example, if they had a target of 3 tricks, but took 5, then they choose 2 cards to exchange with the undertricker.

After cards are handed from the overtricker to the undertricker, the undertricker is forced to return the highest card (or cards) in their hand that are of the same suit as those cards that were given to them. For example, if the undertricker is given the 2 of clubs, and they have the Ace of clubs, then they must pass the Ace of clubs back to the overtricker!

Discard and Play

After the exchange, the dealer calls trump, discards four cards, and takes the four cards from the kitty.

If the dealer undertricked, they will have exchanged one or more high cards with an overtricker. If they find higher cards in the kitty that are of the same suit as those exchanged with an overtricker, they must show the overtricker those cards that are higher in rank than those that were traded.

After showing any such cards, play begins. The first card is played by the person who is left of the dealer, as before.

Game End

The first player to take 12 tricks (or more) during a round wins!

Strategy

Discarding Cards:

If you are dealt a lot of trump cards, it can make sense to discard cards of another suit in order to create a void in that suit. You may be able to play trump cards immediately, in this case.

It is usually not wise to discard high cards, in particular the Ace, since it would be unusual for a player to be able to trump the first card of a suit that is played.

Playing:

It is often useful to play your Aces first. But be careful - they might get trumped if another player has a void in the suit of your Ace!

Keep in mind that you probably cannot win just by playing a lot of trump cards, unless you are very lucky. Plan on using cards of other suits strategically.

It is sometimes possible to bleed out trump cards early on. In this case, if you hold enough high cards of other suits, you may be able to take many tricks because your cards can't be trumped.

Points are not carried over from one round of cards to the next, so it may seem like it doesn't matter what your current score is, if you cannot take 12 tricks and win. However, you should always try to take as many tricks as you can, especially more tricks than your target number. This can give you an advantage in the following round, when you'll be able to trade your low cards for high ones.

History

3-5-8 was reportedly popular among members of Britain's Royal Air Force, where it was commonly called "Sergeant Major."

EuchreFixed a bug where you could not choose 'Go Alone' if you were in the second phase of considering where you needed to pick a suit

SpadesAdded an extra tip to the 'Help' section for euchre

HeartsWhen someone shoots, their name now correctly fits in the name plate

ImprovementDecreased how long players have to take their turns. This should cause the games to move along at a bit faster pace

ImprovementPlayers who miss too many turns in a row are now booted from the table earlier than they were before

Bug FixFixed a bug where registered players were not being matched with Registered Only tables

May 13 2013

HeartsWhen shooting the Moon or Sun, if adding points to your opponents would cause one of them to take 1st place instead of you, points will be subtracted from your score instead of being added to your opponents

ImprovementPlayers who miss too many turns in a row are now booted from the table a bit earlier than they were before

ImprovementAdded some web links to the 'Help' for each game for more information on each game

Bug FixFixed several bugs behind the scenes

May 11 2013

New FeatureEach individual game now shows how many players are playing that game

ImprovementImproved the speed of the custom cursor when moving it around the screen

ImprovementThe custom cursor is now disabled by default for Internet Explorer 9 or earlier users

Bug FixFixed a bug where the game selectors on the home page would run into the footer bar at the bottom right

Bug FixFixed several bugs behind the scenes that could cause the web server to stop responding

May 10 2013

New GameNEW GAME!!! Added the game: Euchre

ImprovementAdded Game Specific option descriptions to the Help for Hearts. Also added a new FAQ question

Bug FixThe 'Zoom' warning no longer appears incorrectly on later versions of Chrome

Apr 03 2013

New FeatureIf a game has a dealer (Spades and the upcoming Euchre), that person now gets a 'Dealer' chip to denote they are the dealer

Bug FixFixed a bug where in a multiplayer game if a player missed their turn, the game would freeze!

On the main screen, simply click on any of the big pictures to play the game denoted by that picture.

How do I play against the computer?

At a table, click the little grey robot next to any empty seat to invite a computer player.

How can I play by myself?

Click on the 'Options' button and check the "[X] Private Table" option. This will ensure no other players join your table.

How can I play with friends?

Come up with a name for your table and tell your friends. Now you and your friends should click on the 'Options' button and check "[X] Private Table". Then click (change) next to the Name: and enter your table name. You and your friends will all be seated on the same private table.

How can I forbid robots at my table?

Click on the 'Options' button and set the "Bots" option to "No". You will be seated at a table where robots cannot be invited. Be aware that it may take longer for the table to fill up with this setting; it will usually be faster when "Either" is chosen.

How can I turn off this custom cursor? It's moving slow.

Click on your username at the top right. Then uncheck the "[ ] Custom Cursor" option.

Why should I register?

Regsitering allows you to pick your own username. All your settings and statistics are tied to this account and thus you can play from different computers. Additionally registered users are never deleted and their stats are never cleared.

How do I chat?

Click on the Chat button in the lower left corner, and a small text area will open up. Start typing, and see your words appear in the text area. Hit the Enter key, and your words appear on the screen.

Someone is being rude, what can I do?

There is a red ⓧ icon below and left of the player. Clicking this icon records the fact that you dislike this player, and you will not be seated with them again. If the player is abusive, it is probably best to "dislike" them in this way and then abandon the table.

I "disliked" someone accidentally, what can I do?

Click on your user name in the upper right corner, and you will see a "Manage Dislikes" area with a list of any disliked players. Click on the "remove" link to undo the dislike, so you will be able to play with this person once again.